Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis took to his personal FB page on Sunday to issue a lengthy statement regarding the ongoing farmers’ mobilizations in the country and his center-right government’s positions on the latter’s demands.
Mitsotakis has used the social media platform to make a weekly announcement or statement on a timely issue at hand – usually posted every Sunday – with the farmers’ protests and rallies dominating much of the public limelight in the country this month and similar to developments in other western European countries. The specific segment of Greek society, rural voters, has also voted overwhelmingly for Mitsotakis and his ruling New Democracy (ND) in elections since 2019.
Among others, he characteristically stated that “we’ll scratch the bottom of the barrel to support farmers,” essentially signaling the government’s intent to meet at least a portion of the latest demands emanating from protesting farmers manning off-and-on roadblocks in a handful of locations around Greece.
Mitsotakis is due to receive 15 representatives of protesting farmers and stockbreeders on Tuesday at his Maximos Mansion government seat.
“The government is always at the disposal of every professional group to listen to their problems and concerns in an organized manner, searching for possible solutions. This will be done with the farmers. On Tuesday I will meet with their representatives and, of course, on the condition that roads are open. The unhindered travel of citizens anywhere in the country cannot be prevented…In any case, it’s a priority for us to support the competitiveness of the primary production sector and agricultural income. That’s why we will scrape the bottom of the barrel to reduce costs for farm and livestock production,” he wrote.
